Often, new spinners lament that they don’t know how to “spin singles”. If you spin yarn, you already know how to spin singles! Every yarn’s ply is a single– there’s nothing different about spinning one “single” to use for knitting. There’s no magic to the “balance” since there’s no such thing as a balanced single– since there is only one angle of twist there’s no balance. It takes two or more to balance one angle against the other.

To use a single, you just have to choose the knitting pattern carefully, since a single isn’t as sturdy as a plied yarn. Most people full their singles a little to help them hold together. I use singles all the time for shawls and hats, but I don’t think they’re a great choice for a sweater that will be worn often, since the yarn is more likely to abrade and pill.

In an upcoming post, I’ll share how I full (felt) my singles to keep them sturdier and keep the bias twist in check!